Lebanese MPs who proposed the unified personal status law. (Credit: Ali Fawwaz/Lebanese Parliament)
Forces of Change, Free Patriotic Movement, Kataeb, Lebanese Forces and Progressive Socialist Party MPs, in cooperation with KAFA, an NGO combating misogynistic violence, proposed a unified personal status law to the Lebanese Parliament Monday. Among the MPs who signed this draft law are Kataeb MP Sami Gemayel; Michel Douaihy, who quit the Forces of Change bloc in October; LF MP George Okais; FPM-affiliated MP Farid Boustany; PSP MP Bilal Abdallah; and Forces of Change MPs Paula Yacoubian, Firas Hamdan, Elias Jaradeh and Mark Daou, according to a tweet shared by KAFA. "The unified personal status law proposal has nothing to do with politics or religion," Okais said. Other proponents claimed it promotes citizenship and gender equality. Lebanon lacks a civil code regulating personal status matters such as marriage, inheritance and child custody, and so relies on 15 separate personal religious-based status laws and courts for the 18 recognized sects.
Lebanon received a Qatari donation of medication for chronic diseases, the majority of which will be freely available at Health Ministry care centers. The donation included about 430,000 boxes of medicines, according to the Health Ministry. Some 70 percent of the medicines will be distributed for free via primary healthcare centers across Lebanon, while the remaining 30 percent will go to the Ministry of Interior for distribution to Internal Security Forces pharmacies. Muhammad al-Sousi, director of the Qatar Red Crescent's Lebanon mission, appeared to pledge additional support to Lebanon in the coming year. The Union of Drug Manufacturers in Lebanon announced an upcoming increase in locally manufactured medicines' prices to “prevent shortages,” citing “financial deterioration and dwindling [central bank] reserves.” Lebanon lifted subsidies on most drugs last year as more than 80 percent of residents, according to a United Nations estimate, were plunged into poverty after the onset of an economic crisis in 2019 causing debilitating drug shortages, sometimes linked to smuggling.
Security forces recaptured eight of 26 escapees who broke out on Monday from the Jib Jenin prison in the Bekaa Valley. The prisoners reportedly escaped through a ventilation shaft in the morning. Security forces apprehended one of the escapees Monday morning and seven others in the afternoon. Prison breaks increased in recent months amid deteriorating incarceration conditions and the devaluation of security personnel’s salaries. While security forces often thwart breakout attempts or recapture fugitives, some escapees have continued to evade arrest.
Theft-linked damage to electrical pylons in northern Lebanon could lead to their collapse and “complete isolation” of the North and Akkar from the public electrical grid, state electricity provider Electricité du Liban warned. Theft of metal materials used to stabilize high-voltage pylons left the structures at risk of collapse. EDL announced that its maintenance teams are attempting repairs with the limited means at their disposal. Bolts were also stolen from other towers around Tripoli, Kfar Qahel and Bkeftin in the north. EDL claimed such thefts have become "systematic" as the pilfering of public equipment proliferates amid the country's economic deterioration, often causing disruptions across sectors.
In case you missed it, here's our must-read story from yesterday: “Minister-judges perpetuate the political-confessional feud”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz
